End closing carton



March 11, 1958 F. A. MARX Em: 'CLOSING CARTON 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 9, 1954 INVENTOR.

AT TORNEYS.

March 11, 195 RAM 2,826,350

END CLOSING CARTON 7 ATTORNEYS.

ted States Pat 7 END CLOSING CARTON Application June 9, 1954, Ser ial- N0. 435,450

2 Claims. (Ql. 229-37) This invention relates to knock down cartons and is particularly directed to ahexagonal container. one end of which is closed by means of glued integral flaps.

The production and. use of flat folded, or so called knocked-down cartons which are made of paperboard, and which are adapted to be erected, into containers of square or rectangular configuration is well known in the art. Hexagonal cartons are very attractive and distinctive in appearance and their usevis effective in stimulating sales by increasing merchandise appeal at the, point of sale, such as in the merchandising of packaged bottles of whiskey or the like. However, the provision of a flat folded or knocked down carton which is erectable into the form of a hexagonal container presents many problems and complexities which are not encountered in the fabrication of containers of the usual rectangular or square'shape. Moreover, the provision of a sturdy end closure is required in the fabrication of hexagonal carton-s which are adapted to contain relatively heavy merchandise such as a bottle of, whiskey or the like.

.The. present invention is directed to an improved hexagonal cartonwhich meets the requirements just described. More specifically, this invention contemplates a hexagonal carton which may be manufactured, at low cost, from aminimum area of paper board, and with minimum waste or trim. The invention is also directed to; a knockeddown, hexagonal type cartonhaving an, end closure which is conveniently and automatically erectable by simple manipulation, but which is also sufliciently sturdy to be used for the packaging of heavy merchandise.

More specifically, the present invention contemplates a hexagonal carton, one endof which is permanently closed by glued flaps and the other end of which is pro,- vided with a suitable tuck-in flap, or other arrangement, by means of which the end of the carton can be; opened to permit insertion of the goods to be packaged, and closed to hold the goods within the container. A carton constructed in accordance with the present invention comprises six generally rectangular panels which are folded in a hexagonal configuration. The bottom end of the container is closed by means of a flap, or tab, arrangement including two sets of corner tabs joining two pairs of adjacent side walls of the container, and two cross tabs interconnecting the two opposite walls of the con tainer not joined by corner tabs. Each pair of cooperating tabs is glued together when the carton is assembled. When the carton is set up, the cross tabs are disposed outwardly of the corner tabs and together with the corner tabs completely cover the end of the carton. The cross tabs function to support the innermost ends of corner tabs against outward movement. Both the corner tabs and cross tabs are provided with score lines disposed so that a continuous fold line is formed extending from one corner of the carton to the opposite corner. When the carton is folded flat, the tabs are bent inwardly along this fold line so that they are disposed completely within the confines of the side walls.

2,826,350 Patented Mar. 11, 1958 The cartons are shipped in a flattened condition to the user who sets the carton up by compressing its opposite edges to spring it into hexagonal form. Next he inserts a bottle or other goods into the container. As the bottle approaches the bottom, it engages the inwardly folded tabs, forcing them outwardly until the cross tabs extend directly across the bottom of the carton. The cross tabs support the innermost ends of the corner tabs and prevent further outward movement of the bottle. Finally, the interlocking tabs or other closing elements provided at the open end of the carton, are placed across that end to ready the carton and goods for sale.

One of the principal advantages of the present carton is that it can be completely glued by the manufacturer and can then be shipped to the user in a knocked-down, or folded, condition in which the closure tabs are completely folded within the walls of the container. to protect them from becoming torn or otherwise damaged;

'Another advantage of the present carton is that it is readily handled by the user. He is not required to, perform any assembly operation on the carton; nor is. it necessary for him to withdraw the inwardly folded tabs as a separate setting-up operation. These tabs are automatically forced outwardly by the insertion of the bottle or other article being packaged.

A further advantage of the present carton is that the initial assembly by the manufacturer is relatively simple; since when the carton is folded fiat each of the threetabs to be. joined can be bent in the same direction into engagement with the portions of the cooperating flaps, which have previously been glued.

These. and other advantages of the present invention will be more readily apparent from a further consideration of the following detailed description of the drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawings:.

Figure l. is a partial elevational view-of one end of a blank from which a carton of this invention is formed showing the tab configuration and glued areas.

Figure 2 is a partial elevational view of the carton partially assembled, showing the manner in which cooperating tabs are secured together.

Figure 3 is a partial perspective view of the bottom, or closed end, of the carton when the carton is fully set up.

Figure 4 is a partial perspective view of the closed end of-the carton showing the tabs folded slightly inwardly.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the closed end of the carton, the carton being completely flattened.

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the carton showing the top opened ready to receive the articles to be packaged.

Figure 7 is a cross sectional view taken along line 7-7 of Figure 5.

A complete carton lit) constructed in accordance with the present invention is shown in Figure 6. Thecarton, formed from heavy paper board or the like, is of hexagonal cross section and comprises a plurality of rectangular side panels 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16.. If desired, one of the panels may be provided with a cut-out aperture 17, through which the article packaged in the container may be viewed. In addition to the side panels, the container includes a closed end 18 provided. with a plurality oftcooperating tabs which are glued together as explained in detail below.

The end. of the container, remote from the closed end, is designated as the open endll). The bottle or other article to be packaged is introduced into the carton through this opening and suitable means, such as interlocking flaps, are provided for temporarily closing the carton until the bottle is to be removed. It will be understood that the flap arrangement provided at the open a I) end of the container constitutes no part of the present invention, and any suitable flap or other closure arrangement can be employed. For purposes of illustration, one arrangement which is highly satisfactory includes two main flaps 21 and 22, which are joined to ends of side panels 11 and 14, and two tabs 23 and 24 which are joined to panels 13 and 15.

In order to close the end of a carton provided with such a flap construction, tabs 23 and 24- are first bent inwardly; then main flap 2.1 is bent across the top of the container, lip 25 being bent downwardly into engagement with wall 14. Finally, main fiap 22 is folded over flap 21, lips 26 and 27 being tucked inwardly between the side edges of that flap and walls 12 and 15.

A blank for forming the closed end of a box in accordance with the present invention, is shown in Figure 1. Portions of the side walls and that area of the blank forming the open end of the box have been omitted, since the exact construction of the open end forms no part of the present invention. Those skilled in the art will readily comprehend from Figure 6 however, the manner in which a blank is configurated to form one suitable flap arrangement at the open end of the container. As shown, the blank includes generally rectangular side wall panels 11 through 16, which are defined by parallel, longitudinal score lines 23, 29, 3%, 31 and 32. In addition to the panels, a narrow longitudinal glue flap 33 is formed adjacent to panel 16. When the box is assembled as indicated at 34, glue is applied to this fiap which is then placed in abutment with inside wall 11 to hold Walls 16 and 11 together as shown particularly in Figure 2.

Flaps for eifecting closure of end of the carton are formed integral with the ends of each of the side wall panels 11 through 16, the flaps being divided from the panels by score line 19 and from one another by cut out portions of. the blank. More particularly, a triangular corner tab 35 is formed at the end of side panel 11. The altitude of the triangle is preferably such that the tab extends substantially half way across the bottom of the assembled container. Each of the remaining tabs, with the exception of rectangular cross tab 36, is of substantially the same height as tab A second corner tab 37 adapted for cooperation with tab 35 is joined to side wall 12; tab 37 is of parallelogrammatic configuration including a side parallel to the adjacent edge of tab 35 so that tab 37 in general slants toward the triangulartab, away from rectangular tab 36 joined to adjacent side panel Corner tab 37 is divided by diagonal score line 38 to form two triangular segments 46 and 41. The diagonal score line coincides with the shorter diagonal of the parallelogram extending from a point adjacent to score line 23 between panels 11 and 12 to corner 42;, adjacent to rectangular cross tab 36. Cross tab 36 and its cooperating tab 51 are the only tabs which extend completely across the bottom of the container from one wall to the opposite wall. Cross tab 36 is provided with a transverse score line 4-3 to facilitate the folding of the tab as explained later.

Another parallelogrammatic tab is joined to the end of side wall panel 14, the tab being of the same size as tab 35 and sloping away from rectangular cross tab 36 on the side of that tab remote from tab 35. Corner tab 44 is provided with a diagonal score line 45 coinciding with the shorter diagonal of the tab and being effective to definetriangles 46 and 47. A cooperating corner tab 48 adjoining the end of wall 15 is of trapezoidal configuration and includes an edge separated from tab 47 by slit 50 and a second edge separated from tab 51 by slit 52. Tab 51, generally of rectangular shape, is joined to side panel 16 and is preferably formed with rounded corners 53 to facilitate the assembly of the carton.

When assembling the carton, glue is applied to the various areas indicated by stippling, including glue flap 34, corner flap 35, a triangular portion 54 of corner flap 48 and the endwise portion 55 of cross tab 51. Panels 15 and 11 respectively are folded inwardly along score lines 28 and 31. The flap 33 is thus brought into engagement with the inner surface of side wall 11, score line 56 coinciding generally with edge 57 of the side wall. The wall and flap are then firmly pressed together to effectively glue the two members together. The two sets of corner tabs On opposite sides of the cross tabs are also joined together as follows. As shown particularly in Figure 2, with the box folded flat along score lines 28 and 31, one side of tab 35 and score line 38 of tab 37 are in register. These two tabs are joined by sending segment 41 along score line 38 to bring segment 41 into contact with the glued face of tab 35. Similarly, score line 4-5 of tab 44 is aligned with edge 58 of tab 48, so that tab 44 can be bent along the score line and triangular portion 47 brought into engagement with the glued portion 54 of tab 48. In a like manner, the outermost section 60 of cross tab 36 is bent along score line 43 over the end 61 of tab 51 and is urged into contact with the glued portion of that tab to join the two together.

This completes the initial assembly of the carton; and a quantity of cartons which have been flattened and glued in this manner can be stacked and shipped to the packager for use. However, it is apparent that the tabs extending outwardly from the end of the box present various sharp edges which are apt to become caught on one another, or on some other object causing damage to the carton. For this reason, it is frequently preferable to ship and store the cartons in a fiat condition with the tabs folded inwardly in a position in which they are completely protected by the side walls of the container.

In order to do this, the flaps are glued together, with the box folded, as shown in Figure 2; the box is then sprung into hexagonal shape and the tabs are folded inwardly as shown in Figures 3 and 4. Each of the sets of corner tabs is folded along the score line provided in the parallelogrammatic tabs, while the cross tab is folded along score line 43. As best shown in Figure 3, these score lines all lie along a straight line extending from corner 62 of the box to the opposite corner 63. When the tabs are pushed completely inwarly, as illlustrated in Figure 5, the closed end of the carton presents a smooth end corresponding to score line 19. Moreover, each set of corner tabs is spaced slightly from the cross tabs so that they do not overlap one another and the closed end of the box folds extremely fiat.

When the packager uses the carton, he first springs it into substantially hexagonal cross section by compressing the carton along score lines 28 and 31. Then the bottle or other article is inserted through the open end of the container and as it approaches the closed end it engages the corner flaps and cross flaps forcing them outwardly until the bottom reaches its fully opened position, shown in Figure 3. In this position, each set of corner flaps adjoining adjacent side walls is supported at its innermost end by the cross flaps extending between the remote walls 13 and 16. That is, the cross flaps lie outwardly of the corner flaps and engage the center-most portions of the cross flaps; so that the bottom of the container is completely closed and the corner flaps are reinforced.

From the foregoing description it will readily be ap preciated that the present carton is easily form-ed and assembled, and after gluing, can readily be shipped in a flat condition in which the tabs are folded inside the container walls. Furthermore, the container is easily handled by the packager, who is required only to slightly compress the carton and insert a bottle or other article to be packaged. The bottle is automatically effective to force the flaps outwardly into the position in which they form the closed end of the container.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A blank of material for forming a hexagonal carton, said blank being configurated to form six rectangular side wall panels delineated from one another by a plu rality of parallel spaced score lines, flap means formed at one end of said blank for effecting temporary closure of one end of the completed carton and flap means formed at the opposite end of said blank for eifecting permanent closure of said opposite end of said carton, said last named flap means comprising an elongated cross tab formed integral with the end of a first side wall panel, and having a score line extending transversely of its length, a cooperating cross tab formed at the end of the side wall panel constituting the third panel remote from the first panel, tWo sets of corner tabs, one set of corner tabs being formed at the ends of the two panels disposed intermediate the panels carrying the two cross tabs, the second set of corner tabs being formed at ends of the panels disposed on the opposite side of one of the panels carrying a cross tab, one of said sets of corner tabs comprising a triangular tab formed at the end of one panel and a second tab formed at the end of an adjacent panel, the other set of corner tabs comprising a trapezoidal tab formed at the end of one panel, and a second tab formed at the end of an adjacent panel, each of said sets of corner tabs including a third tab connected to said second tab by a line of weakening delineating a first triangular portion of substantially the same size as the triangular tab and a second portion adjacent to and adapted for abutment with the face of the other tab of said set.

2. A blank of material for forming a hexagonal carton, said blank being configurated to form six rectangular side wall panels delineated from one another by a plurality of parallel spaced score lines, flap means formed at one end of said blank for effecting permanent closure of that end of said carton, said flap means comprising an elongated cross tab formed integral with the end of a first side wall panel, and of substantially the same width as said panel, said cross tab having a score line extending transversely of its length, a cooperating cross tab shorter than the first formed at the end of the side wall panel constituting the third panel remote from the first panel, two sets of corner tabs, one set of corner tabs being formed at the ends of the two panels disposed intermediate the two cross tabs, the other set of corner tabs being formed at the ends of two panels disposed on the opposite side of a panel carrying one of the cross tabs, one of said sets of corner tabs comprising a triangular tab formed at the end of one side wall and a second tab formed at the end of the adjacent side wall, the second set of corner tabs comprising a trapezoidal tab formed at the end of one side wall and a second tab formed at the end of the adjacent side wall, each of said sets of tabs also including a third tab connected to said second tab by a line of weakening delineating a first triangular portion of substantially the 'same size as the triangular tab and a second portion adjacent to and adapted for abutment with the face of the other tab of said set.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,501,913 Morris July 22, 1924 '30 2,044,103 Rossi June 16, 1936 2,285,174 Simons June 2, 1942 

